NumberNineteen

Our Trip to New York Part 1

We just returned from a wonderful trip to New York City and I'm bursting to tell all about it.  We did so much & I took so many pictures that I need to break it up into 2 blog posts.  I'll share about what we saw & did in this post and tell all about the shopping in the next.

Part of the aim of the trip was to visit our friends who moved from the DC area to Long Island in the past year.  We arrived in NY on Friday to see a few things while they were at work and spent the weekend with them.  We returned to Manhattan on late Sunday afternoon to continue our city visit. 

Scenes from Friday afternoon at M & J Trimming, the Cake Boss Cafe in Times Square and the American Girl store....

After a wonderful visit with our friends, we returned to the city and settled into a hotel for a few days. 

A walk in Central Park...

The Museum of Natural History...

The 9/11 Memorial...see the rainbow in the spray on the first photo?...

Little Italy...

The Tenement Museum...highly recommended for anyone who is interested in learning about the immigrant experience...

 

St. Patrick's Cathedral, which is currently under restoration but beautiful nevertheless...

 

Stay tuned for a post on our shopping adventures!

 

Making Jam, A Photo Session & Back in Business

I've been busy around here today!  I made my 3rd annual batch of blackberry jam this afternoon, crafted from berries plucked from the wild bushes beside our house. Canning food makes me feel like I'm being wholesome.  That & baking bread.

I followed this recipe which I've used all three years with great success.  Since I don't usually have quite enough blackberries from our bushes, I add in raspberries to make up the difference.  So, it is actually blackberry-raspberry jam.  And, it is delicious.

After the jam was done, I pulled out the stacks of vintage finds that I've been hoarding gathering for an Etsy photo session.  That is right, I'm back into business on Etsy (though I was really never out of business).  I've been selling things here & there, but haven't put much effort into the shop for the past 2 years.  Grad school & my first year as a librarian put a damper on that.  I'm taking advantage of my time off of school and adding a bunch of new items to the shop.  I found some really great milk glass packed away that I'm going to put up as well as loads
of linens (photos soon to come) and some great industrial items.

The photo session meant tearing up the living room to find the perfect spot, so things were everywhere.

 
Hope came over and said "What are you doing Mom???"  Haha, you'd think that she'd be used to me by now.

 

Art Inspired By You've Got Mail

I love movies.  Not only do I love the story, but I also love to examine the sets to see how the characters are supposed to live.  There are times that I don't love a film, but I love the set.  One set that I'd move into any day is "You've Got Mail". 

photos from Design Sponge

It's cute, it's cosy, it's vintage-y.  It's just about perfect.  I've been trying to think of something for above our tub in the master bath, but nothing great has stood out to me.  Until I saw this screen shot from Hooked on Houses:

 

See those botanical prints by the door?  I just love the simplicity of the prints in glass, with no molding.  I went to my favorite resources for free vintage images, The Graphics Fairy and started searching.  I have used so many free images from that site that my house should have a sign that says, "Courtesy of the Graphics Fairy". 

I found quite a few:

I bought glass clip frames like these in the 8.5 x 11 size, thinking that I would print out the images on regular computer paper.  Well, because the images are vintage & from books, they don't print nicely to exactly 8 x 11.5.  I had to do some Macguyering, or the brown chipboard backing of the frames would have shown. What I ended up doing is using the glass fronts of the frames with plates holders on the back, holding the image in place & giving me something to hang on the wall.

I put them up in two rows of 4 & I'm really happy with how it turned out:

Fourth of July & The Beach

This, my friends, is a picture of my happy place.  With my sprite of a daughter.  Really, it's perfect.  Once a year, I get to go to this place and just be.  No projects that I should be doing, nothing that should be taken care of, no obligations. Decisions include what kind of ice cream to get and whether we should play skee ball first or persue the shops.

 I'm not a person who can very easily do nothing.  I always feel that I should be "productive", for better or for worse.  When I'm here, I can live in the moment.

4th Goodness....

Arcade Antics....

Discovering that she meets the height requirements for ALL rides....

Love this one....

Funland is the best....

And, the beach....

Summertime

Summer is in full swing now and we are relishing our time off.  We had a busy start to vacation, with Hope's dance recital and a visit from Nana & Grandpa. 

Hope was so amazing in her recital -- she totally rocked it out.  They danced to a disco-era Michael Jackson tune and you should have seen her moves!  I love my little sparkler!

The next day, Nana & Grandpa arrived for a visit.  It was a relaxing visit, though we packed in a lot, looking back on it.

  

The first night we had a picnic at the state park behind our neighborhood, on the river. 

 

As you can see, there is a pier on which you can stand with one foot in Virginia, one in Maryland.

 

We also went to Mount Vernon, which was absolutely lovely.  The gardens were stunning -- what an inspiration for my own yard.

 

There has also been a fair amount of summer pleasures.  A day of reading....

...and a day of baking....

...a few of the results became ice cream sandwhiches.

 

Soon, we will be headed to visit Nana & Grandpa (I know! So much Nana & Grandpa in such short time! So lucky!), which means the beach!